Goodbye Versus, Hello “NBC Sports Network”

As cable giant Comcast puts its stamp on its new NBCUniversal deal toy, the company’s Versus cable channel — home to the Tour de France, NHL hockey and bass fishing — will refashion itself as the “NBC Sports Network,” the Philadelphia Inquirer and other outlets are reporting.

(Our Wall Street Journal colleagues earlier flagged a re-naming was in the offing for Versus.)

Mind you, Versus already was a name change from the previously badged “Outdoor Life Network” cable channel. Comcast, which recently agreed to pay $4.38 billion for the rights to televise the Olympic Games in the U.S. through 2010 2020, hopes more sports rights will increase the ratings and commercial value of OLN/Versus/NBC Sports Network/Whatever It’s Called.

Oh, and another reminder: NBC already runs another ratings-challenged cable-sports network with a motley bunch of sports–Universal Sports.

Comments (5 of 5)

he would take part this year. A huge thank you to all the people who have soonspred us. It will be great to see the city in Pink tomorrow night. Good luck to all the walkers and big thank you to all the people that help out on such a special event. Come on everybody lets raise as much money as we can for such a fantastic cause.

3:25 pm January 15, 2012

Niki Wininger wrote :

Very blog I must say. The you say are generally right, but I do not agree on everything you .
I will be back to see what else you have to say and what the reaction of other people on your blog will be. Keep up the good work.

7:10 pm August 14, 2011

Bob wrote :

Any idea if this new network will televise the Tour next year? I hope so, but something tells me not to expect it.

12:43 pm August 2, 2011

Matt wrote :

What a dumb move. Spend years and years promoting Versus to compete with ESPN then pull the plug on the name. The people at Comcast just made a huge mistage. Versus was really starting to make a name for itself with hockey fans. So now that people are starting to recognize Versus as a name in sports they want to go ahead and confuse the public for another five years with a new name. Just makes no sense to me.

12:09 pm August 1, 2011

FiveRings wrote :

Universal Sports doesn't broadcast a "motley" bunch of sports. Universal Sports is a channel the specializes in OLYMPIC sports.

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